Chapter 4 – Accepting Fate and the New Goal

Author's Notes: So, I have to say I was surprised at the speed this site goes. I had views and a few reviews before I had all of the parts I wanted to upload on the first round done! I've taken into account the reviews, hope I can meet the expectations but in the end I'm writing the crossover to reflect how I want it to go. Looking forward to the rest of the story and without further ado, enjoy!

Legal - I don't own Mass Effect or Halo, blah blah, legal, blah.

After five years the fleet has grown restless. Most aboard had spent hundreds of years alive, the pace of SSC life had slowed, five years should not have had the effect it did on the crews. Their situation did, the strain of day after day maintenance to stay in one place while their fleets reported back again and again with nothing. There were moments where it seemed tolerable, some romances flourished but were discouraged, as large as the ships were, they were not generational ships. Few and far between, the fleet waited.

The commanders saw this, they deliberated among themselves and consulted the AI. A decision had to be made. A path needed to be taken, one year after they discovered the difference between universes, the Admiral made the announcement – They would build the Ark and the SSC would set out among the stars of this galaxy. They would build their home.

The years had been good to the fleet, the Arbiter didn't get many chances to stand on the observation deck as he would like. The view of the fleet against the abyss with the galaxy hung serenely behind it all did much to calm him.

'Yet it is not enough to simply exist here, we have been searching tirelessly both for the way home and signs that there is more to this place and yet…nothing.'

His thoughts wandered back to the few times a report had come back from the fleets claiming life. Little as it was and spread out, it seemed this galaxy was blighted.

'There should be so much more here, instead dust and echoes…' His reverie was interrupted by the sound of another entering.

"Arbiter, I had heard you were here, I know you appreciate the view as much as I do." Commander 117 had grown more sociable in the time after he found how to save Cortana. He was still a man of few words but always had time for the old warriors.

The Arbiter turned to face his old foe turned ally. "Yes, there seems less to do and more to think on these days. We've been here for five years and we seem no closer to home or anyone else in this galaxy."

He motioned towards the expanse of stars in front of them. "I've spoken to Cortana and Hood recently, it sounds like something big is coming up."

The Chief had been more or less out of the loop among the fleet, being focused on maintaining the forces of SPARTANs he was in command of, he didn't know of the deliberation that was taking place between the captains of the fleet.

"Yes, there is something coming up, something I find the opportunity to ask you about now Demon."

Chief turned to look at the Arbiter upon hearing the title the covenant had bestowed upon him. "Admiral Hood, the captains of the fleet, and I have held conference recently and I must ask your advice old friend. Should we stay?" The question had been thrown around since shortly after they arrived by members of the fleet but only in the recent months had it made it to serious deliberation among those in charge.

The Chief looked out at the galaxy for a long moment. "Tell you the truth, I think we should."

The Arbiter looked back out at the galaxy after the Chief voiced his opinion. "We can keep looking for our door home but for now, we need a place to call our own. My SPARTANs can operate like this, displaced with only a mission to keep them going but…the others, they need something below their feet so to speak."

The Chief meant it too, he and his SPARTANs would do what they were ordered but he knew the average person wanted a place to call their own.

He never voiced the idea before, it was outside his orders and authority, but he had recognized the look in the fleet member's eyes. The schedule of a ship could only sustain a living crew as long as they felt as if they were actually living instead of only existing.

"Then my choice is made, my vote will be to stay. My old friend, I asked because tomorrow is the vote, the Admiral and I will vote with the captains of the other ships and announce our path shortly after."

The Chief took all of this in with his usual indifferent facade, inside he felt hope. "We will begin the Ark! We will continue the mission that was interrupted five years ago..." Like the Chief, the Arbiter began to feel hope again.

The vote went as many knew it would, there were a few arguments against it but they were more of the obligatory "What if!" arguments. To be considered but not taken to heart. The path was decided and the Ark would be built, 25 million would bend their efforts towards their goal that was postponed for five long years. As Admiral Hood and the Arbiter stood with Cortana and Cornelia on the bridge of the 'Reclaimed Mantle' he hailed the fleet.

"Members of the Ark Seed Fleet, today we address you to announce a goal. Too long have we scrambled against the door that has been shut against us, too long have we found nothing but dust and echoes among this strange galaxy."

He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, he hadn't prepared a speech but found himself continuing. "We will never forget where we came from, nor will we cease our efforts to get there. We are here today, however, to announce our goal."

The Arbiter picked up after a brief pause from Hood. "Today we will move our focus to our original goal – We will build the New Ark!" There was a moment before the various screens showing the other ship's bridges exploded into cheering.

The captains stood proud, having helped make the decision. Cortana spoke next. "We will set out on our mission immediately, those selected for the crews of the ships to collect the materials will be notified shortly. Today, we have purpose again, today….we will have our home!" As everyone looked among each other and let the excitement reach them, Cornelia spoke.

"We before you will continue to lead you. We will be the Command, sword and shield for all of us. I will serve as the Monitor on the New Ark, Admiral Hood will lead our ships, and the Arbiter will lead the people, while Cortana and Commander 117 shall lead our armies. With our leadership we pledge to uphold the Mantle, in this universe and THE NEXT!"

The other members of the new Command had a moment of confusion. Cornelia's announcement was unexpected, they had not gotten that far in planning yet. After the confusion passed, they accepted it with looks among themselves, they would accept this. They trusted Cornelia's judgement and besides, the word was out, it would demoralize the crews if they changed it now.

The crews were selected and the ships launched, twelve ships were loosed from the Patriarch-Class ship to gather entire worlds for the endeavor. The 'Reclaimed Glory' would play its part as well. The five years hadn't had much of a drain on the Singularity Core's mass but they were well below the theoretical limit. The ship would play its part and drain the gaseous layers from a gas giant to expose the core below. The core of a gas giant contained the exotic metals and compounds that were only made under those high-pressure environments.

Nickolas watched from the super luminal connection on his ship as he orbited a planet in the Orion Arm. He was ecstatic, the fleet would have a purpose again! "Andrew, are you seeing this?!" the AI rolled his digital eyes, or course he was, he could analyze each sound bite as it arrived at the ship. He could forgive his counterpart in his excitement though. "Now maybe all that planetary data we sent back will make a difference, we should place some bets on whose planets will be chosen." Nick laughed at the thought. "Ha! I'm in, I bet the commander of the 'Cerberus' would find that hilarious."

In their free time the different commanders of the scout Prowlers would talk among themselves, making bets and playing games. Nick's ship was popular because of the AI with him. It was the subject of many of the conversations – all good-natured jibes but many joked he had coerced the AI into coming with him, other prowlers had a full crew of seven. Andrew found such ideas amusing, there were very few people that could do that sort of thing against the will of a non-military AI. They were some of the least restricted members of the SSC.

"We'll find out, he's betting bragging rights for a decade if one of his gas giants wins, while the commander of the 'Zealot' bets his plasma sword when his planets win. I guess we're all aching for some excitement huh?"

Andrew wouldn't admit it out loud, usually he didn't get in on some of the more immature aspects of organic life, after a few years scanning rocks though, he let lose a little and enjoyed himself.

"Take a look through the catalog of planets we've sent up higher, take a look at the gas giants, and let's see if we can get one of ours picked."

One thing Nick would love to see is a gas giant drained by the 'Reclaimed Mantle'. Things were looking up, he had a bet to win!

2 Years Later – the Beginning

Everything was in place – two years of preparation, building, and logistics had set the stage for the SSC's first moment to usher in a Tier 1 scope project. The Ark Seed was assembled with the fleet around it. They had decided to erect the New Ark in the same place in this universe as the Greater Ark in their home universe. The planets were selected, prepped for the slip space jump that would eventually land them within the industrial maw of the Ark Seed, and the core of the gas giant was in position with the Ark Seed halo hanging kilometers above its surface. It would form the 20,000 km wide "dry dock" that the rest of their civilization would be built upon.

Cortana looked out over the assembled ships with Cornelia, they were both primed and ready for the word. Cornelia more so because of her intended role as its monitor after it is completed.

"Are you excited Cornelia?"

she had a professional reason to be sure of the other AI's stability but mostly Cortana just wanted to make sure her friend was ready. There were few of them here and she would be there for her friend.

"I am, I've thought of it for quite some time. Thank you for being here though. Having you in this universe puts a lot of us at ease. You were the first to avoid rampancy after all." Cortana laughed a bit. "Partly true, I went rampant but Chief saved me."

Her thoughts drifted for a moment. "Today is your special day though Cornelia! They're about to start the construction."

View screens and super luminal connections flickered to life as the Command began to address the fleet.

The four figures appeared to the fleet with the leader of the people, the Arbiter speaking,"We commemorate this day to our history, to be written by us in this new universe. Many words could be spoken but there will only be three – Let Us Begin."

With thunderous applause from the 25 million watching, the halo began moving towards the top of the sphere of metals and exotic elements it would use to make their home. Hard light forms began to appear along the inside of the 3770 km circumference. Scaffolding and a cloud of construction drones appeared. The surface of the core appeared to rise in a cloud, leveling off in a soup of materials within the ring that was disassembling it.

The construction had began.

Author's Notes: So here's another chapter, hopefully it's a little easier to read than the first chapters posted, I've broken them up so it's not just a block of text any more. With any luck it'll be enough. For now, I'm still building up, the next two chapters will see the Mass Effect universe being effected by the efforts of the Ark Seed Fleet. Hope I'm keeping it interesting for everyone! Thanks for reading!